Sunny Days In The Atlantic! 13 March 2023

  Even with the time change last night we were up early enough to get to the dining room for breakfast. If was not very busy and we were able to try the line dancing at 9 this morning. As to be expected the dances are simple but the instructors know little about the steps and certainly have no idea about the count which is the way we learn a dance. Once the music is on we can fill in he “gaps” and just enjoy the movement. So many people had trouble with the dance that he had to do it as a one wall dance. It is country western night tonight but we will be having dinner at the same time.

We did attend the port lecture on Malaga although we have a full day tour to Granada so we will not have time for anything else. We did do our puzzles during the talk on D Gama who opened up the sea routes to the east but the lecture turned into 45 minutes of the different types of curry. The speaker should be put on a boat and set adrift!

We were back at the pizza restaurant after we did our laps of the “running” (read walking) track. It is another beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 70”s and barely a movement of the ship. In fact it has been pretty calm since we left. We sat for tea and watched the egg drop contest. Everybody got some type of prize which was good PR. Some of the devices were very interesting and it is amazing that an egg survives the 2 story fall.

Judy watch a movie before we were back to the theatre listen to the cosmos talk. This one was on the moon. The photos are great and the lecturer has a very easy way of presenting the material. It was a very entertaining lecture although it was late in the afternoon and gave us little time to get ready for the Captain's Circle party. Our table mates delayed their dinner while we were there. The party ran pretty well as usual with a few drinks some music, the regular speeches, etc. It is one thing that has not “changed”. There are about 600 elite passengers onboard which means they had to have 3 or 4 of these receptions. The Commodore (captain) breezed in said the words took the photo and was gone in a few minutes. We did meet a very nice woman travelling by herself who we invited to go to dinner with us. We were one of the last to leave the dining room and by the time we got to the show, it was already well underway.

  We did get a few minutes of internet as I noticed that the phone had downloaded a few messages but other than that nothing yet. Apparently we are still between satellites! SURE as Judy would say!

Another Day at Sea! 12 March 2023

With the long day yesterday and the time change last night, needless to say we slept in again. Part of that is because there is very little going. The schedule had line dancing this morning at 9 so there was no chance of even trying to make that. Besides after the crowded floor and same steps on all the dances, it was not worth the effort.

Breakfast at the buffet was followed by some walks around the deck. Actually they have a nice walk on the highest deck. On this ship you can't walk the entire promenade deck. It just stops. All the tenders are on that deck. We did find where they “hide” the sudoku. Actually people asked us where we got it. They are not where they say they place them! We did miss the Cadez destination port lecture but saw it in our cabin later in the day.

 So we did attend the lecture on how Maderia wine came to be made. An add on was all the things that were discovered by mistakes like microwaves, post it notes, etc. After a small bit of lunch we saw the presentation on telescopes. It was not as interesting as the first Cosmos presentation but I never realized how many telescopes there are in the world and how many are in space. A towel folding demo in the Atrium was interesting. In all the cruises we have taken we never have seen one.

Needless to say the internet is still not working as apparently we are between satellites! It is the monkey in the room but has lead to an interesting point. You watch people trying to check their phones (me too I guess) and then putting them down. We have heard people are going to the passenger services desk complaining. Statements like I am paying for this but it is useless. And merrily we roll along and still I can't send these. Eventually there will be a whole bunch sent at once!

We have managed to fill the days. We having been using the stairs every time we go up and down and have taken to the the track a few times a day. We are still getting over 10,000 steps in a day which is the goal. We don't seem to know how to just sit in the sun.

We ended the day with a nice roast beef dinner. We skipped the entertainer (more puppets) and since we have another time change tonight, decided to turn in early. We want to try to get to a dinning venue tomorrow for breakfast and then try the line dancing again.

Atlantic Blues! 11 March 2023

     Well here we are! We don't know when we will be able to send this as the internet has been out for over a day and the excuse remains we are between satellites and need to switch over. More than once today I told someone from the ship that we have done may crossing in both the Atlantic and Pacific and although things might be slow we always were able to get a connection. We were down at the services desk and they immediately said that we are getting a credit for should not having the net. I suggested that Princess pay the bill! We asked about our package benefits which said that we were allowed gelatto but had been refused. Oh you are on the old package and this ship is using the new, more expensive updated one that started 2 weeks ago. However the information in our room never said that! Are we happy to still getting drinks or is that changed as well. Needless to say we are not very happy about the change. We really hope things improve!So we had another good night's rest waking just before 9 this morning. We missed the time for breakfast in a dining venue so we managed in the “World Market Place” a fancy name for buffet.

   

 We did attend a lecture on Funchal (packed) but we have booked a full tour there. We have been to the city at least 2 times that I can remember so we are doing an around the island tour. We did attend the “Age of Discovery” lecture but Judy said it reminded her of her high school history class except she could not sleep in the class! A nice soup and sandwich lunch was followed by a “Cruising Through The Cosmos” which was very interesting. The speaker is an astronomer who just comments on the many wonderful universe photos. No notes as opposed to the other lecturer who reads everything. It made the day pleasant. One highlight is that we met 2 people from Ontario that we called 3 and 4. That is the number of Canadian we have met out of the 500 plus.

The final thing was line dancing in the crowded piazza. I did not expect much but they even “ruined” Jerusalea with some made up version. Having just taught that dance it was very hard to follow all the stuff in it. That ended the day.

It was formal night night tonight. Our snacks arrived early but they were not very tasty. Luckily I had a beer with me to help ease the pain! The champagne waterfall celebrations preceded dinner. There was a production show tonight “Rock Opera”. We had not seen this show before. It had all the bells and whistles that they like to put into a show with singing dancing costume changes, etc. Actually if there was a theme both Judy and I did not see one. Judy liked it me, not so much. After that we did take in the show by the comedian from the other night but we did not think his material was as good. In all it was a late night and then we had another time change. That makes the day very long!

Headed East: 10 March 2023

 We are sailing out into the Atlantic. So far smooth sailing with just a bit of a roll. With the long day and the time change of course it was late before we even though of waking up. The schedule had very few things to do. For some reason no zumba today which was a good thing. We did not even have much time for breakfast. Just a fast coffee before the first enrichment lecture. The lecture was on the real pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe he was left over from the last cruise. It was interesting enough. There was very little to do after that. The Medallion apt is suppose to work on the phone but no deal. First they needed to download something and then reconnect. The internet has not worked all day. The problem as explained is that the ship is switching over to a European satellite. SURE as Judy likes to say.

After lunch at the “small” buffet we did get back to the tour desk and booked the final 2 tours that we wanted. They are all day tours in Spain. We plan to just wander in the other 2 ports. Back to the theatre for another lecture. Cruising Through The Solar System was based on the planets. The speaker was much better and the subject matter very interesting. After that we had just enough time to get to “line dancing”. Don't breath or you bump into someone. The leader was entertaining. After we finished a lady came up to us and said we were the best couple. No Lie! WOW! Of course the dancing was “very primitive” as we expected.

There are many things that have changed in the ship's routines. A lot of subtle things but definitely different. This ship has photos along the passage ways that were submitted by passengers. I did send some a couple of times and I have one on another ship. I will try to see if any of the other ones are framed somewhere in the fleet. Not all the photos would be given a 10!

Rest time followed until we headed to the Elite lounge for pre dinner snacks. Then to dinner. We do have an assigned table now. Seems they were reluctant to do that but we are at a table for 6. One couple will be there for the duration. The other 2 spots will be filled each night with someone different.

The show was a not very good impressionist singer with pupits. Judy hates them. The internet is still out so this will be posted later. Still can't get the photos downloaded because of the internet. Between satellites. SURE. We have done many crossings and never lost some type of internet.

Joining the Enchanted Princess

    We made it to the ship today. I was up early before the alarm and we had the rental car packed last night so we were ready to go early this morning. I was up before 5 so I had all the leaving chores done by the time Judy was ready to go. We left around 5:15 and were in Lauderdale before 11 having stopped for breakfast. We drove around 300 miles to the port. I made a mistake and ended up going right to the ship. No problem, so we stopped and dropped off the luggage, gassed the car and had it back to the Hertz drop off (right outside the gate) in quick time. We grabbed a cab for the short ride back to the ship. Boarding the Enchanted was easy as everything had been submitted through the app.

After dropping our carry on in our cabin, we headed to the made to order pizza venue for lunch. We needed to wait for a table but we did have a very nice meal. We also tested our drink package – diet soda for Judy and of course a beer to go with the pizza. Then we did a walk through of the ship, trying to get a good idea of the layout. There are many redesigned areas on this ship and you can tell it is bigger with more space in the popular areas which you would expect.. There seems to be more “space”. We also discovered that we did get the tour we had requested. However the app thing sucks as you try to do something and it just grinds away. For example we tried to find out what dining room we are scheduled for but needed our room steward to get the info. In any case, luggage was in our room, we unpacked, did the safety briefing and were ready to sail by the afternoon. We were a bit late on that count.

At the sail away deck party they announced that there are 2700 guests on the his ship that holds over 3600 so we were correct in thinking that it is empty. Of course they did the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle. The other songs had line dances associated with them but we could not remember how they go. Judy did manage a big Margarita and loved it.

By dinner time we were beginning to feel the effects of a long day. There were 2 other couples at the table. Apparently we will not be at the same table every night – maybe. We have a set time but not a set place. Service seemed very slow. I hope that it was just first night confusion. After we did go to the show. The comedian startled slowly but got better as he went on. We did find out that there are over 500 Canadians on this trip. We met 2 today. We did not check out any of the music venues as the early start finally caught up to us. Our first time change is tonight.

Joining the Enchanted Princess

     We made it to the ship today. I was up before the alarm and we had the rental car packed last night so we were ready to go early this morning. I was up before 5 so I had all the house chores done by the time Judy was ready to go. We left around 5:15 and were in Lauderdale before 11 having stopped for breakfast. We drove around 300 miles to the port. I made a mistake and ended up going right to the ship. No problem, so we stopped and dropped off the luggage, gassed the car and had it back to the Hertz drop off (right outside the gate) in quick time. We grabbed a cab for the short ride back to the ship.  Boarding the Enchanted was easy as everything had been submitted through the app.

  After dropping our carry on in our cabin, we headed to the made to order pizza venue for lunch. We needed to wait for a table but we did have a very nice meal. We also tested our drink package – diet soda for Judy and of course a beer to go with the pizza. Then we did a walk through of the ship, trying to get a good idea of the layout. There are many redesigned areas on this ship and you can tell it is bigger with more space in the popular areas which you would expect.. There seems to be more “space” We also discovered that we did get a tour we had requested. However the app thing sucks as you try to do something and it just grinds away. For example we tried to find out what dining room we are scheduled for but needed our room steward to get that info. In any case, luggage was in our room, we unpacked, did the safety briefing and were ready to sail by the afternoon. We were a bit late on that count.

   At the sail away deck party they announced that there are 2700 guests on the his ship that holds over 3600 so we were correct in thinking that it is "empty". Of course they did the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle. Some of the other songs had line dances associated with them but we could not remember how they go. Judy did manage a big Margarita and loved it.

  By dinner time we were beginning to feel the effects of a long day. There were 2 other couples at the table. Apparently we will not be at the same table every night – maybe. We have a set time but not a set place. Service seemed very slow. I hope that it was just first night confusion. After we did go to the show. The comedian startled slowly but got better as he went on. We did find out that there are over 500 Canadians on this trip. We met 2 today. We did not check out any of the music venues as the early start finally caught up to us. Our first time change is tonight.

Ready to Sail

  Finally we are ready to cruise again. It has been a few years since we have been able to take to the high seas. First Covid cancelled a trip to Europe. Then in the fall of that year our second cruise was cancelled. Finally we were scheduled to go cruising last fall but a bike accident made us put that one on hold. So here we are ready to go again! We are going on a Transatlantic repositioning cruise. We have many crossing of the Atlantic but this one has a few ports that we have not been to and will give us a better opportunity to explore the south coast of Spain

Itinery

This will be cruise number 26 on the Princess Line. It is a 14 day adventure starting in Fort Lauderdale and ending in Barcelona. The first 9 days are at sea except for one port, the last few days are port heavy.

The Enchanted Princess carries 3600 passengers, has 19 decks and is 1100 feet long and has only been sailing for about 18 months. It is one of the newest designs for Princess ships. We have a balcony on the Baja deck. The ship has all the familiar venues including the International Cafe, the small food bar in the atrium which is where we like to gather for daily tea and small meals. We really like the dedicated made to order pizza restaurant in the atrium. However it has many redesigned areas and new names for places on the ship.

It has been a interesting time preparing for this cruise. Like many cruise companies we must use an App to prepare for this trip. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It remains to be seen how it works this time. This ship uses the Medallion Net. No more cruise cards for drinks, leaving the ship, etc. The Medallion transmits the info. If you walk up to a bar, the bartender sees your picture and has your name and probably what you ordered last time. We used this system that last time we sailed in 2019.

We have rented a car for the trip to Lauderdale and will simply drop it off at the port. That will be Thursday morning.